Anyone else on here have Gout? (1 Viewer)

Chaos Commish said:

Aaron Rudnicki said:

Chaos Commish said:

My UA was 10-13. I didn't get proactive with a meter and really sharp doc until winter 11. Aaron, any joint that has suffered 1 flare up is a candidate for another. Understand that is sometimes necessary to clear the joint of crystals. I guess they sometimes "dissolve" painlessly or process slowly enough to prevent a massive autoimmune response, but in my case each site flared up one last time or two. The big toe was sore for months, but not en fuego. I do recommend a meter. You should be able to get a script and even if not mine tests blood sugar, uric acid and cholesterol for $100. Handy. I check my levels once a week or so.

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I started seeing a rheumatologist a couple months ago. He didn't mention the meter thing. Hoping my levels are low enough that it's not something I need to monitor that closely but I'll keep it in mind.

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Yeah, meters are not common in this country. I was wrong thinking you could get a script for one. Maybe someday, but for now it's a personal decision to self monitor. I went through a ton of test strips trying to isolate foods that raise and lower UA. With me it's sugar more than anything, fructose leading the charge. Most cherries raise my UA. So, there's that. The tart cherries were fine.

I also learned that diet only accounts for 10-30% of our UA content. The rest is produced by our bodies regardless of what we eat. I've personally lost 80% of my interest in dietary controls so long as I am eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars and carbs, I'm not worrying about much else. The 20% I do for UA control is not about purines and lowering my UA. It is about increasing my bodies ability to eliminate UA. 80% of gout patients do not have high UA because of what they eat or their bodies producing too much, rather their bodies do not excrete enough. I do this by alkalizing my urine. The alkaline diet fad is silly and like most similar topics loaded with false claims, but you can increase urine PH making it easier on your body to eliminate acids. But again, diet ideas are working on, not fixing, just adjusting 10-30% of the issue.

I loved this result. Vegans have higher uric acid than meat eaters and even meat and seafood eaters.

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Right, which is why it's hereditary for a lot of us. Thanks Dad.

My brother and I both have it. My brother is a workout machine, and I'm more sedentary. We both drink, but both have had periods of little drinking. Both got gout around the same age too..32 or so.

I read a study awhile back where they tried to see the effect of alcohol on gout and the result was that 51% felt that it had an effect, so I pretty much rule that out and drink whatever.

I've been bad and haven't been taking allopurinol for the last few years. I have chronic pain and it sucks at the gym and stuff like that and I just take ibuprofen or naproxen for it. But, if I'm not taking the allopurinol I'm letting the acid slowly destroy my joints, so you know, that's sort of important to do. My left big toe joint is pretty freaking huge. So, thanks to you guys I have an appt for Monday to get back at it.

From the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases this is about the best piece I've read on gout.

Aaron Rudnicki said:

Yeah, the specialist I went to see basically said not to worry much about diet unless you're eating a ton of organ meats or something pretty unusual.

Drinking lots of water is good. I was also told to eat more salt to help your body retain the water. Getting dehydrated is I think I big trigger for me.

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I like this doctor.

Dehydration, definitely a trigger for me. So is too much weight lifting. My kidneys get overloaded with uric+lactic acid and the numbers spike. Food? Not so much. Like I said, too much sweets or even sweet fruits elevate faster than surf and turf.

Fructose epidemiology

Conclusions Prospective data suggest that consumption of sugar sweetened soft drinks and fructose is strongly associated with an increased risk of gout in men. Furthermore, fructose rich fruits and fruit juices may also increase the risk. Diet soft drinks were not associated with the risk of gout.

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Better science.

Chaos Commish said:

I also learned that diet only accounts for 10-30% of our UA content. The rest is produced by our bodies regardless of what we eat. I've personally lost 80% of my interest in dietary controls so long as I am eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars and carbs, I'm not worrying about much else. The 20% I do for UA control is not about purines and lowering my UA. It is about increasing my bodies ability to eliminate UA. 80% of gout patients do not have high UA because of what they eat or their bodies producing too much, rather their bodies do not excrete enough. I do this by alkalizing my urine. The alkaline diet fad is silly and like most similar topics loaded with false claims, but you can increase urine PH making it easier on your body to eliminate acids. But again, diet ideas are working on, not fixing, just adjusting 10-30% of the issue.

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And you do this how?

Kenny Powers said:

Chaos Commish said:

I also learned that diet only accounts for 10-30% of our UA content. The rest is produced by our bodies regardless of what we eat. I've personally lost 80% of my interest in dietary controls so long as I am eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars and carbs, I'm not worrying about much else. The 20% I do for UA control is not about purines and lowering my UA. It is about increasing my bodies ability to eliminate UA. 80% of gout patients do not have high UA because of what they eat or their bodies producing too much, rather their bodies do not excrete enough. I do this by alkalizing my urine. The alkaline diet fad is silly and like most similar topics loaded with false claims, but you can increase urine PH making it easier on your body to eliminate acids. But again, diet ideas are working on, not fixing, just adjusting 10-30% of the issue.

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And you do this how?

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Even though it's called uric acid, body or blood pH doesn't mean boo as it pertains to gout. This is a dead end. If you have kidney stones, kidney pH can impact stone formation and there are foods/drinks to avoid (though I can't remember them off hand).

Chaos is totally spot on about Uric Acid load being driven by kidney function and not so much by diet. I haven't heard of any specific foods having a uricosuric effect (helping excrete urate from the kidneys), though since probenecid can help with this, I wouldn't be shocked if some foods had some uricosuric effect, but I would be shocked if it amounted to much. Drinking a lot of water just seems like such an easier way to help your kidneys out than monkeying with urine pH (IMO).

Kenny Powers said:

Chaos Commish said:

I also learned that diet only accounts for 10-30% of our UA content. The rest is produced by our bodies regardless of what we eat. I've personally lost 80% of my interest in dietary controls so long as I am eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars and carbs, I'm not worrying about much else. The 20% I do for UA control is not about purines and lowering my UA. It is about increasing my bodies ability to eliminate UA. 80% of gout patients do not have high UA because of what they eat or their bodies producing too much, rather their bodies do not excrete enough. I do this by alkalizing my urine. The alkaline diet fad is silly and like most similar topics loaded with false claims, but you can increase urine PH making it easier on your body to eliminate acids. But again, diet ideas are working on, not fixing, just adjusting 10-30% of the issue.

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And you do this how?

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Read the first review.

Japan study

Brony said:

Kenny Powers said:

Chaos Commish said:

I also learned that diet only accounts for 10-30% of our UA content. The rest is produced by our bodies regardless of what we eat. I've personally lost 80% of my interest in dietary controls so long as I am eating healthy, avoiding processed sugars and carbs, I'm not worrying about much else. The 20% I do for UA control is not about purines and lowering my UA. It is about increasing my bodies ability to eliminate UA. 80% of gout patients do not have high UA because of what they eat or their bodies producing too much, rather their bodies do not excrete enough. I do this by alkalizing my urine. The alkaline diet fad is silly and like most similar topics loaded with false claims, but you can increase urine PH making it easier on your body to eliminate acids. But again, diet ideas are working on, not fixing, just adjusting 10-30% of the issue.

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And you do this how?

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Even though it's called uric acid, body or blood pH doesn't mean boo as it pertains to gout. This is a dead end.

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Alkaline diet loons make crazy claims about body and blood pH altering giving them some great benefits. It is nonsense. But we can raise urine pH and there's more than just that bit from Japan showing it helps the kidneys move more acids. I could probably stop the alkaline mineral waters and still be gout free. I just like them and maybe a little placebo is at work or maybe there's something to it. Beer makes my urine acidic, but not if I have 6oz of alkalizer first.

Some good info chaos.

The point of my post was to simply share some info. Not tell anyone what to do or how to do it. If I have learned anything about gout is that it is VERY different in everyone. Everyone is affected differently. I have a friend we call the magic Johnson of gout. ####er parties like kieth Richards, puts foie gras on everything, takes a little milk thistle and rarely has flare ups. His UA is in the 8-9 range

As far as my statement that you were lucky to have such good care in the ER, I'm going to stand by that. At least in comparison to my experience. I know you're from socal, so these names should resonate. During my initial attack I went to the ER at hoag hospital in Newport. My gout does not present itself in the normal fashion. I'm not overweight at all. No pain in the toe, all pain centralized in upper/outer ankle. It felt like a horribly sprained ankle, yet I hadn't sprained it. The initial diagnosis was a possible sprain/tear of the peroneus brevis, here's some vicodin, ice it, elevate it, go home. 36-48 hours later, gone, like nothing had ever happened. My primary care physician didn't think to test me for gout for the symptoms described. I went to kerlan jobe to see a foot and ankle specialist, x-rays, PT ordered, no gout testing. PT was uneventful. 3-4 months go by, another attack. Brutal this time, black and blue ankle, blood pooling all along the outside of my foot and down across the top of my foot, horrible horrible pain. This prompted full blood workup, more x-rays and discussion of an MRI. Blood work came back inconclusive for gout, UA at 6.2. Back to kerlan jobe, more PT, more discussion about gout. Both my PC dr and the specialist were reluctant to attempt the tap for synovial fluid from the ankle, saying it was difficult to extract from that spot and neither were sure it was gout with my UA levels at 6.2. Finally got another opinion from a podiatrist that saw a lot of old people dude took one look at my foot and said, you have gout.

Allopurinol didn't work well for me. I kept having flare ups while on it, even though my UA levels were sub 6. so I attempted to control my UA levels with diet only. I had already become vegetarian and had given up booze entirely, so decided to see if I could control my UA with diet alone. I did this for approximately a year, It didn't work, I still had flare ups. My UA levels hovered around 6. I couldn't take it anymore and decided to give uloric a try. It has worked well for me, my UA levels are in the 3.5-5 range and I am able to eat and drink in a more normal fashion.

It hasn't been fun, but I have found what works for me and I think that is the key for gout. One has to find where the balance is, I don't eat very much meat anymore, I drink WAY, WAY less(a great thing as I was drinking to much) I eat More or less as I did before with a focus on not ingesting things high in purine. I drink tons of water and take about 15-20mg of uloric daily. My UA is low and most importantly, I'm not having any flareups.

For you guys taking Allopurinol or some other daily maintenance drug:

1) do you still get flareups occasionally?

2) are they minor or severe?

3) if diet plays a role in your flareups, are you able to eat/drink the normal culprits like red/fatty meats and beer without getting flareups?

I had a flareup 1-2 weeks ago (in the same foot as a broken ankle!), possibly triggered by some regular non-diet coke, and now my wife is pressuring me to get on the daily medications. This is the first flareup I've had in a month, when a single cheeseburger gave me a major flareup. Just wondering now if I could still get the flareups even if I'm taking the medications.

Thanks!

Wednesday the left side of my foot ached. Thursday it hurt across the bridge of my foot. Friday I woke up and the pain was in my ankle also. I could not place any weight on it. My skin burned, toes felt swollen, and my entire foot feels like someone took a sledgehammer to my foot and shattered every bone. Pain is unbearable so I went to Urgent Care.

I tell the doc that it feels like I broke my foot, but not sure how. I broke my pinky toe four years ago. The end of this week it has been in the teens and it's been snowing for three days, perhaps that's the issue. Told her I was jumping around a lot on SB and maybe did it then. She asked if I drank excessively during SB and I admitted that I had. She said I could have a stress fracture but she thought it was Gout.

I am apparently way miss informed about Gout like many others. I told her I was to young to have Gout, not fat, I am in perfect health blah blah blah. While I am sitting there telling her basically she doesn't know ####, she presses on the joint between one of my toes and foot. I let out some weird animal wail and came off the table. She snickered and stated that she was 100% sure it was gout. She would take an x-ray and blood tests.

X-rays came back negative. She gave me a script for Percocet and some NSAID for Gout. Placed me on a low purine diet and advised me to quit drinking, as she suspects beer is my trigger. Last night she called back and advised me that the blood test came back, and that she can confirm I have Gout. I need to get a primary care doctor next week and start treatment. She told me to take this serious or I would regret it.

Today is worse, the pain is excruciating. If I had a saw, I would cut my foot off. I'm in shock and full of mixed emotions. I feel confused and dumb. I am scared for a lack of a better word because I don't want to give up certain foods or drink(even though I am going to.) Feel bad I doubted the doctor, and upset because my wife thinks I am a baby. If you have never had Gout, you are clueless to the amount of pain associated with it. I'm also pissed because after researching Gout, I have probably been dealing with it since 2005 and out of the thirteen doctors I have seen for a previous issue, nobody considered that.

Concentrated cherry juice. I posted a link in this thread.

Use daily.

seahawk 17 said:

Wednesday the left side of my foot ached. Thursday it hurt across the bridge of my foot. Friday I woke up and the pain was in my ankle also. I could not place any weight on it. My skin burned, toes felt swollen, and my entire foot feels like someone took a sledgehammer to my foot and shattered every bone. Pain is unbearable so I went to Urgent Care.

I tell the doc that it feels like I broke my foot, but not sure how. I broke my pinky toe four years ago. The end of this week it has been in the teens and it's been snowing for three days, perhaps that's the issue. Told her I was jumping around a lot on SB and maybe did it then. She asked if I drank excessively during SB and I admitted that I had. She said I could have a stress fracture but she thought it was Gout.

I am apparently way miss informed about Gout like many others. I told her I was to young to have Gout, not fat, I am in perfect health blah blah blah. While I am sitting there telling her basically she doesn't know ####, she presses on the joint between one of my toes and foot. I let out some weird animal wail and came off the table. She snickered and stated that she was 100% sure it was gout. She would take an x-ray and blood tests.

X-rays came back negative. She gave me a script for Percocet and some NSAID for Gout. Placed me on a low purine diet and advised me to quit drinking, as she suspects beer is my trigger. Last night she called back and advised me that the blood test came back, and that she can confirm I have Gout. I need to get a primary care doctor next week and start treatment. She told me to take this serious or I would regret it.

Today is worse, the pain is excruciating. If I had a saw, I would cut my foot off. I'm in shock and full of mixed emotions. I feel confused and dumb. I am scared for a lack of a better word because I don't want to give up certain foods or drink(even though I am going to.) Feel bad I doubted the doctor, and upset because my wife thinks I am a baby. If you have never had Gout, you are clueless to the amount of pain associated with it. I'm also pissed because after researching Gout, I have probably been dealing with it since 2005 and out of the thirteen doctors I have seen for a previous issue, nobody considered that.

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see my post above. i resisted the daily meds for a while. allopurinol didin't work very well for me. everyone is different and you'll have to find what works for you.

allopurinol is the best. get on it (or something similar) and you don't have to quit drinking or change your diet at all really.

if you're still in pain from a flare up, you may want to ask your doctor for something stronger.

gout is awful. you should be thankful you figured out what it is, because it's definitely treatable and preventable.

Soulfly3 said:

If anyone is serious about trying what I posted, PM me and Ill send you the exact brand etc of the stuff I got. No shtick.. this is legit...

cant joke around about gout pain

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fool me once ...

Aaron Rudnicki said:

allopurinol is the best. get on it (or something similar) and you don't have to quit drinking or change your diet at all really.

if you're still in pain from a flare up, you may want to ask your doctor for something stronger.

gout is awful. you should be thankful you figured out what it is, because it's definitely treatable and preventable.

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Do you have any side effects? I haven't had a flare up in 18 months and last week I had one in my ankle and bottom of my foot. Effin painful and I am considering taking meds despite not wanting too. It is ridiculous when it is so painful that it makes it difficult to even walk!

I have no idea what caused the flare up. I do drink beer often and I joke to people if it was the beer I would have gout everyday. I drink a lot of water and don't eat much meat. My ex wife has been a pain in the rear and I hear stress can cause it.

Fla\/\/ed said:

Do you have any side effects? I haven't had a flare up in 18 months and last week I had one in my ankle and bottom of my foot. Effin painful and I am considering taking meds despite not wanting too. It is ridiculous when it is so painful that it makes it difficult to even walk!

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no side effects.

Aaron Rudnicki said:

allopurinol is the best. get on it (or something similar) and you don't have to quit drinking or change your diet at all really.

if you're still in pain from a flare up, you may want to ask your doctor for something stronger.

gout is awful. you should be thankful you figured out what it is, because it's definitely treatable and preventable.

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Absolutely, I never had to make any lifestyle changes and have had no side effects from the drug (although others here say they have). My understanding of how it works is that it takes the excessive uric acid in the system and chemically changes it into something that is harmless. I started with 100mg and eventually ended up taking 300mg as I would have an occasional flare up with the lower dosages. It is the miracle drug for gout as far as I am concerned.

allopurinol didn't work for me. still had flare ups. uloric works great, for me.

grateful zed said:

Soulfly3 said:

If anyone is serious about trying what I posted, PM me and Ill send you the exact brand etc of the stuff I got. No shtick.. this is legit...

cant joke around about gout pain

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fool me once ...

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Haven't had a gout flare-up since I started using it a good while ago. no changes in diet, at all.

guess it doesnt work for everyone... did for me and my old man

my brother suffers from this. is this curable if you start to exercise and stop eating / drinking too much?

snitwitch said:

my brother suffers from this. is this curable if you start to exercise and stop eating / drinking too much?

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I'm no doctor, but I don't think it's "curable", but you can manage it if your uric acid levels aren't too high.

there are lots of different opinions on what triggers an attack or how to prevent them. I think regular exercise and staying hydrafted is obviously good. daily medication is probably the best and easiest way to prevent future attacks though, particularly if your/his levels are well above the normal range.

snitwitch said:

my brother suffers from this. is this curable if you start to exercise and stop eating / drinking too much?

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Weekend worth the research as I was laid up on the couch with it, and went to a follow up visit today.

Not curable, but can be managed. People can go years without a flare up. Everybody's triggers are different but the top two seem to be red meat and beer.

Exercise, water, and watching what you eat and drink are great ways to be proactive to prevent a flare up.

Have dealt with gout for a number of years. Went on all allopurinal a few months ago. Haven't read the whole thread but wanted to make sure people are aware of certain things and take this seriously.

- The uric acid solidifies in to crystals. That is why there are painful flareups. Imagine sharp crystaline objects right in the middle of your joints, poking at you whenever you flex that joint.

- Gout isn't a temporary thing you deal with during flare ups. Gout can cause permanent damage to joints, EVEN IF YOU AREN'T HAVING FLAREUPS. I can no longer bend my big toe on my right foot at the little joint halfway between the end of the toe and the foot. We noticed this during my last flare up, which last a couple of weeks until it was completely gone. My toe is essentially one piece at this point. I'm just glad it wasn't a more prominent and useful joint.

If you've had a flare up please see a doctor. Have your uric acid level checked and come up with a game plan to manage it. It's not something you want to assume isn't an issue just because your flare ups aren't that frequent or severe. I hated the idea of taking a pill a day for the rest of my life but I'd rather do that than deal with the gout attacks and worry about ongoing joint issues.

I just went on Allopurinol 4 days ago. Changing my diet (no beef, pork, beer, or high fructose corn syrup) has helped with the major flare ups, but I was still having low-grade gout in my feet, which just feels like a flare up starting to come on. Based on my age (43) and weight (320 on my 5' 9" frame), I decided to start taking the low dose meds to ease up on my joints and foot pain.

Aaron Rudnicki said:

snitwitch said:

my brother suffers from this. is this curable if you start to exercise and stop eating / drinking too much?

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I'm no doctor, but I don't think it's "curable", but you can manage it if your uric acid levels aren't too high.

there are lots of different opinions on what triggers an attack or how to prevent them. I think regular exercise and staying hydrafted is obviously good. daily medication is probably the best and easiest way to prevent future attacks though, particularly if your/his levels are well above the normal range.

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Agreed. No more curable than any other immune system disorder (which I believe it is still classified as). Gout is your system producing too much uric acid for your body to handle - that is treatable but never curable.

I havent had a flare in at least 2, maybe 3 months. Longest time period in over a year for me. I havent changed much in my diet, maybe drinking more wine than beer, but also taking dandelion root supplements on a daily basis. Its a natural diruetic, and Im wondering if Im excreting more uric acid because of it.

Kenny Powers said:

I havent had a flare in at least 2, maybe 3 months. Longest time period in over a year for me. I havent changed much in my diet, maybe drinking more wine than beer, but also taking dandelion root supplements on a daily basis. Its a natural diruetic, and Im wondering if Im excreting more uric acid because of it.

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You should be as before allopurinol the drug of choice to treat gout was Benemid (brand name) which flushed the excessive uric acid out of the system through urine. The problem with that drug was that tended to cause kidney stones as I would imagine might also be the case with natural diuretics.

Thanks for all the advice here. It was well needed.

This sounds awful. TnP

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

seahawk 17 said:

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

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I didn't go to a doctor about my gout until the 2nd attack. The first attack I woke up one day and couldn't stand on one foot. But I thought maybe I whacked it on something. didn't know squat about gout back then. 6 months later similar thing happens. And my foot swelled up to the point I couldn't get shoe on it. I waited a couple of days for the swelling to subside a little bit and then went to the doctor. Even then when he took my shoe off he was like "whoa." It was huge. Anyways, we surmised it was gout. He didn't even tell me to modify my diet. He suggested that I just start taking a lot of ibuprofin as soon as I feel an attack coming on as it will attack the swelling. Looking back I think he just kind of blew it off, and I'm a bit annoyed knowing now what I didn't know then.

Did your doctor do bloodwork to see where your uric acid levels are? Did he come up with a game plan to monitor to see if the dietary changes help? If the answer is no to those two questions it sounds like he's just blowing the thing off. Because how is he going to know how bad your gout is without doing blood analysis? Not to mention that if you don't do the bloodwork you won't have a baseline to see if the dietary changes make a difference. I'm not opposed to using diet to try to lower the uric acid levels but unless you're doing the other things to baseline and monitor it what good is that? You'll never know if you've made a difference unless you have another attack. And it's possible diet won't make a damn bit of difference regardless.

seahawk 17 said:

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

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I've been talking to 100+ doctors about gout for 5+ years and I've never heard of gout being in the neck. Not saying it's impossible, but very unlikely.

On your first question, it is unusual for a doctor to say no to someone ready and willing to go on Rx med since most doctors believe that few patients will stay faithful to dietary changes. That said, there is a clear warning on allopurinol's label: THIS IS NOT AN INNOCUOUS DRUG. Not all doctors are scared of allopurinol, but I know of some physicians who have had a patient die due to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome from allopurinol and they will be gun shy. It's very rare, but those that were affected it remember it well. The general guideline that most physicians follow is to wait until a patient is flaring 2 or 3 times a year before putting on allopurinol. The exception is those patients with an sUA over 11.

seahawk 17 said:

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

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Gout is arthritis, it can impact any joint and it can impact the spine. Since gout is somewhat difficult to diagnosis because the only thing you can do without taking a direct section, is to measure active uric acid levels at that place in time. If your levels are lower that day, doctors may not want to commit to a gout diagnosis. In fact, I have never been explicitly diagnosed with gout, I just have all the symptoms and it's assumed.

I have a lot of broken fingers, it effects me most in my hands and in my elbows although the first place I get flares is usually a little ball on my right heel. I'm not 100% sure how much Allopurinol helps me, I think diet is primary but also you have to exercise and drink a ton of water to wash the crystals out of your system. One thing that DOES WORK is Colchicine. I take this before I drink beer, eat a tomato-based meal, or eat any kind of fish. Those things are my triggers, although the uric acid comes and goes sometimes with no rhyme or reason. It's naturally occurring in me, it's not always brought on by diet. I think not drinking enough water is my problem most times to be honest.

Brony said:

seahawk 17 said:

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

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I've been talking to 100+ doctors about gout for 5+ years and I've never heard of gout being in the neck. Not saying it's impossible, but very unlikely.

On your first question, it is unusual for a doctor to say no to someone ready and willing to go on Rx med since most doctors believe that few patients will stay faithful to dietary changes. That said, there is a clear warning on allopurinol's label: THIS IS NOT AN INNOCUOUS DRUG. Not all doctors are scared of allopurinol, but I know of some physicians who have had a patient die due to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome from allopurinol and they will be gun shy. It's very rare, but those that were affected it remember it well. The general guideline that most physicians follow is to wait until a patient is flaring 2 or 3 times a year before putting on allopurinol. The exception is those patients with an sUA over 11.

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Did the blood test and had a UA level of 9.0. You pretty much summed up what he said, do the low purine diet, and we will see how often you have flare ups and go from there. I have been avoiding the "bad" meats and have abstained from alcohol since Saturday. He said I could drink red wine, and in about a month re-introduce foods that I can't live without and beer to see if they trigger an attack.

Doctor Detroit said:

seahawk 17 said:

Question for all of the experts. I went to my doctor on Monday and asked about taking allopurinol and he told me no. He stated that gout is new to me and that it's best to regulate through diet. If I continue to have flare ups then he would give me an RX. I told him that I wasn't a #####, but I am scared to death to have another episode, if there was a drug to lower my UA then let me have it...again he said no. Is this normal from your experience?

Also, I have had this mysterious neck pain since 2005, in the same exact spot that comes and goes. I have seen 13 doctors over the years and nobody can tell me what's wrong. I was actually hoping it was the gout that has been causing it. Doctor said there wasn't a chance the two are related. I know that it's mostly confined to joints like toes, ankles, fingers, wrists, and sometimes shoulders. Anybody think or hear about anyone having flare ups in the neck?

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Gout is arthritis, it can impact any joint and it can impact the spine. Since gout is somewhat difficult to diagnosis because the only thing you can do without taking a direct section, is to measure active uric acid levels at that place in time. If your levels are lower that day, doctors may not want to commit to a gout diagnosis. In fact, I have never been explicitly diagnosed with gout, I just have all the symptoms and it's assumed.

I have a lot of broken fingers, it effects me most in my hands and in my elbows although the first place I get flares is usually a little ball on my right heel. I'm not 100% sure how much Allopurinol helps me, I think diet is primary but also you have to exercise and drink a ton of water to wash the crystals out of your system. One thing that DOES WORK is Colchicine. I take this before I drink beer, eat a tomato-based meal, or eat any kind of fish. Those things are my triggers, although the uric acid comes and goes sometimes with no rhyme or reason. It's naturally occurring in me, it's not always brought on by diet. I think not drinking enough water is my problem most times to be honest.

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Colchicine works well but got real expensive when the FDA gave one company exclusive right to sell it...

I've had my share of gout attacks. Beer, red wine and seafood are my triggers but I really have to be "bad" for a several days in a row. Dehydration and stress can also be factors.

Right now I have a low level pain/minor swelling in my knee that comes and goes with no traumatic event. It isn't "classic" gout with red/purple skin and hot to the touch - does anyone think this could be gout as well? For years, I've blamed it on "loose cartilage" or the like just getting in the wrong place.

Damn it's back. :(

Too much beef, too little water. Taking the cherry juice concentrate again.

glumpy said:

Damn it's back. :(

Too much beef, too little water. Taking the cherry juice concentrate again.

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Go to doctor. Get prescription for anti-gout pill. Take pill. No more gout.

My Uric Acid was 12, put on Allopurinol and it is at 4. But now I have constant pain in my foot. Not as excruciating as normal gout attack, but very uncomfortable, especially at night. Absolutely stinks, as I don't have any answers. I haven't eaten meat in a year, and stay away from high pirine foods. I am 37 and although I can stand to lose 10 pounds, I am not severely overweight.

Balco said:

My Uric Acid was 12, put on Allopurinol and it is at 4. But now I have constant pain in my foot. Not as excruciating as normal gout attack, but very uncomfortable, especially at night. Absolutely stinks, as I don't have any answers. I haven't eaten meat in a year, and stay away from high pirine foods. I am 37 and although I can stand to lose 10 pounds, I am not severely overweight.

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Drink more water. NSAIDs might help. And you can always try the cherry route

I changed primary physicians and she said that I do not have gout. I have decided doctors have no idea what they are talking about half the time.

glumpy said:

Damn it's back. :(

Too much beef, too little water. Taking the cherry juice concentrate again.

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I was the one advocating the cherry concentrate way back in this thread.

Stand by it. The #### really works for me, and my old man.

Here's the farm I ALWAYS get mine from... down the highway from me. https://www.cherrylane.net/

eta: they deliver.